


Kiss the Girl - a Janai/Amaya au

by littlebasingse



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29786559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlebasingse/pseuds/littlebasingse
Summary: In the kingdom of Katolis are two entirely different worlds. Above, a king reigns as his sons, Callum and Ezran, grow older. Below, unbeknownst to the humans, lives a race of merfolk, desperate to keep their existence secret from the destructive people of Katolis. However, when a mermaid named Janai finds herself risking it all to save the life of a human, General Amaya of Katolis, the fate of her entire world is in jeopardy. Janai must journey into the human world and take the life of the woman she wants to love or risk exposing her world's existence to humans.Based loosely on Disney's "The Little Mermaid" (and its subsequent Broadway musical adaptation)
Relationships: Amaya & Callum & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Amaya & Gren (The Dragon Prince), Amaya & Janai (The Dragon Prince), Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince), Janai & Khessa (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	1. Prologue: Fathoms Below

General Amaya had never been one for sea travel. The creaky boards lurched beneath her boots, giving her a permanent sense of unease as the large vessel cut sloppily through the waves. Of course, her crew couldn’t know that. They were traveling through dangerous waters, and she could tell that everyone else was already on edge. Growing up in the kingdom of Katolis, they had all heard legends of the sunken realm of the Sunfire mermaids. It was rumored to lay deep in the sea, fathoms below the area they were traversing now. She knew that the age-old stories of soldiers lured to their deaths by the beautiful and powerful merfolk were being exchanged in every anxious breath her crew took. None dared sign the words - they knew the general didn’t believe any of the tales - but Amaya had known her crew for a long time, and could easily catch some of the words on their lips.

She stood on the bow, looking out at the battling waves as they crashed together, turning white. The wind brushed through her short, dark hair, almost as if it were an entity on its own. The breeze seemed to hold Amaya, for a moment, before moving along on its journey to the coast. It felt familiar, like an old friend dropping by to say: _Hey, you’re going to be alright. You’re strong. One day, all of this will be a distant memory._ At that moment, she thought she felt her sister’s presence as if she were the wind communicating with her.

Amaya felt a tap on her shoulder, and she reluctantly looked back with a sigh, letting the moment pass. She felt calmer, now. Safer. The wooden deck began to feel stronger beneath her feet. Beside her was her best friend and second in command, Commander Gren. He acted as her interpreter when she communicated via sign language, and he was now the person who knew her the most. Amaya liked to put on a strong face, but ever since the passing of her sister, Queen Sarai, she had leaned on Gren for support for the first real-time in her life.

“How’s the view?” Gren signed to her. She gave him a side smile.

“Lovely, if your favorite thing is water and only water.” She signed back sarcastically. They both grinned.

“The crew seems uneasy.” He gestured back, furrowing his brow ever so slightly in concern.

“Yes, I noticed. The ‘mermaids,’ is it?” Amaya motioned, forming the words with her strong but nimble hands, making no attempt to hide her discontent.

Gren nodded, signing back “You should say something to them.”

The general nodded.

“Will you get their attention?” she asked, and he nodded his head in response as they headed to the center of the ship. With a skip in her step, Amaya climbed the mast and perched herself on one of the planks where her crew could all see her well. Commander Gren stood below, watching her as he prepared to relay her message along to their sailors. She looked down upon the worried faces gazing up at her. She could feel the anxiety in the air as she tried to piece together the best way to convince them that their worrying was unnecessary. Amaya made sure to put on her bravest face, keeping her brows concentrated as the breeze pawed at her loose top and billowing pant legs.

“I know we’ve all heard the stories of what lives in the fathoms below,” she signed, keeping steady eye contact with as many of the sailors as she could.

“You have nothing to fear. Those are nothing but legends, as fake as dragons or elves. We’ll be home by the end of the day, you can even see Katolis from here.”

She gestured to the grand castle she called home, which could be seen on the horizon before them.

“You’ll be back with your families before you-”

Amaya’s signing was cut off by a bright beam of light as lightning crashed into the sea, not a mile away from her ship. A storm has crept up on her, and now the sky was covered in dark grey clouds as the rain began to pelt down.

“Hoist the mainsail!” Amaya signed desperately,

“Everyone, below deck!”

Amaya scrambled down to her panicked crew, but just before her feet could touch the deck, a wave hit, accompanied by another bolt of lightning, this time even closer, throwing the general violently from her ship and into the deep ocean below.


	2. The World Above

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Janai.

“The humans are reaching more and more into our territory on every passing day. They must be stopped.”

Queen Khessa was fuming as she sat on her golden throne, holding a newly-sharpened trident with an elegantly decorated ruby-encrusted handle. The queen was always bold and intimidating, regardless of where she was and what she held, so today she was a sight to behold. Her skin, dark and deep as the sea where she ruled, was highlighted with golden tattoos in a style traditional to the Sunfire merfolk. Khessa’s hair ran long down her back, a light color akin to the sun. Her tail was long and floated like gilded seaweed, flicking impatiently as she seethed.

“They’re only passing through, Khessa. They don’t even know we’re down here.”

Janai responded, trying to calm her sister. As the head of the Sunfire guards, she had spent most of her life observing humans when they wandered dangerously near her kingdom. Most of them were harmless, stupid if anything. They would float in their water vessels, dropping strings of dead fish down in an attempt to lure in a bigger one. Janai did her best to send them away and avoid conflict.

She loved battle. Sword fighting was her favorite hobby, but Janai knew as well as any that an unnecessary war would lead to nothing but death and destruction on both sides. Sometimes, she would grab hold of one of the humans’ lines and drag them away from the merfolk, acting as if she were the large animal they were angling for. Other times she would create a current with her fellow guards to lead the people away. In days past, her people had used more violent tactics, drowning sailors to create a sense of terror in the area to discourage curious humans from wandering too near. The plot had worked well, and it had been decades since humans lingered above the Sunfire merfolk.

A few days ago, some patrols had spotted a large human vessel heading straight to their kingdom, but Janai had dismissed it, assuming they were headed to the nearby human castle and merely passing through. _There’s no way that those simple humans could have figured out that my people dwell beneath this patch of sea_. She thought to herself.

Her sister, Queen Khessa, had been less convinced.

The queen had always preferred to act without thinking. She was constantly paranoid and anxious about humans discovering their existence and sending their troops into Sunfire waters. Khessa wanted to keep her people safe from the human world, and Janai didn’t blame her. They had seen what humans were capable of. Their wars left hundreds of bodies floating into the sea, their incessant fishing has caused the extinction of certain species in some areas, and their large nets were often discarded and left to be found by young merfolk who often got caught in them, and were not always found in time to be saved.

“We do not know what they know, Janai.” The queen hissed, gripping tightly on her weapon.

“We cannot let them get a step ahead.”

Janai sighed, weighing her options.

“Alright, Khessa. I will follow and patrol the ship until it has left our waters, and have my troops at the ready in case something goes wrong. Okay?”

The sisters made eye contact, trying to figure each other out. Finally, the queen nodded.

“Go. Keep us protected.” Queen Khessa said, her voice full of strength and power.

Janai nodded back sternly, before turning and swimming away from the throne room.

She didn’t know why her sister was so concerned. Human vessels often passed through merfolk waters, and so far they hadn’t been much trouble. Khessa obviously had a bad feeling about this one, and Janai hoped that for once her intuition was wrong. The seafaring humans kept to themselves, at most a few sailors lost their personal effects to the sea, which gave Janai something interesting to study. She had a cave full of things that belonged to humans, and decided to stop by before heading to her guard duty following the large vessel.

It had started as a tactic, a way to learn more about humans so that the Sunfire merfolk could be one step ahead of them. Janai studied them, tried to learn about their kingdoms, their culture, and their practices. Most of what she found confused her. Lots of small metal objects could be found at the bottom of the sea, some with cupped ends, some sharp. Try as she might, she couldn’t make sense of most of what the humans used these objects for. One looked almost like a hairbrush, but Janai found no use of it since she preferred to wear her long red locks in braids down her spine, her dark horns standing proudly on her head like a crown.

One thing the humans had in common with merfolk was the use of mirrors. Janai had found one when exploring a shipwreck, oval shaped and silver, adorned with strange designs carved into the side like a frame. Looking in it now, she wondered how a human might perceive her. The few she had seen dressed simply, hair often worn short or pulled back into a low ponytail of sorts. Their skin varied in tone, but none had elaborate tattoos the way her people did. Janai was proud of the deep gold patterns on her eyelids and cheeks, it made her look like the strong warrior she strove to be. Her eyes were a brownish-orange, and her tail was long and elegant, a deep red with flecks of gold in her scales and covering her fins as they floated with the water. She wore simple shoulder armor for some protection, but often left her midriff exposed for optimal movement in conflict. Swimming with armor took practice, and she didn’t like being restrained.

Humans were so strange. Instead of tails like the merfolk did, they teetered around on two limbs, like long arms. It seemed to work well for them. Janai had seen them jumping around on their vessels and had even on one occasion witnessed a human swim using them. She found it strange that humans couldn’t float through the air. When she was young, she assumed that they did. All she knew was life with the merfolk - they lived in water, which they swam in. Why would humans live someplace where they’re bound to the ground?

Somewhere along the way, her hobby had turned into more of a fascination, perhaps even an obsession, with human life. She didn’t want to admit it to her sister, but Janai had already been watching the new vessel with more care than usual.

When she first saw the humans aboard - viewed from a safe distance, hidden by some rocks that they would never dare come close to - one in particular caught her eye. Janai had seen more humans than most Sunfire merfolk, but she had never really found any particularly attractive. In her eyes, many of them looked the same. Cropped hair, bare face, button-up shirt. It seemed to work well for them, but she had yet to see a human face that was worth a second glance.

But this one was different.

She didn’t know the woman’s name and had never heard her speak. She communicated with the sailors with her hands it seemed, moving them in a way that created sentences and words.

Janai could tell she was the one in charge. When she first saw the woman, she was standing proudly at the bow, the wind ripping through her short, dark hair. She wore a simple white long-sleeved shirt, tucked into blue bottoms that fit her body well.

Janai had been mesmerized by her, resting her face on her folded arms as she held onto the rocks for over an hour, watching. She was struck by an unfamiliar feeling. It was like she wanted the woman to look at her, to blow her cover. She wanted to be seen. A few times the wind played with the woman's low-cut top in a way that made Janai blush and look away.

She could see the humor and love in the woman’s dark brown eyes, and she wanted nothing more than to know her and be known by her.

The feeling had scared her, which is why she had been avoiding patrolling the vessel again. She sighed, took one more look around her cave of human treasures, and decided it was time to investigate the beautiful woman and her crew.

They weren’t hard to find. The vessel left a trail of disrupted water in its wake, and Janai only had to follow it for a few miles before she caught up with the people. She could see a storm brewing above, and for all of their sakes, she hoped the humans had noticed it above. A storm could easily knock them overboard and into the Sunfire villages below, destroying their homes, as well as likely ending human lives. Even if there were survivors, Janai knew that for her peoples’ protection, Queen Khessa would never let them live. They’d drown out here, and never be seen again.

Janai couldn’t help herself, and she carefully raised her eyes above the rocking ocean waves to try and view the vessel. She was at least twenty meters away, but she could see the humans clearly. The redhead who always stood beside the beautiful one was standing on deck as the crew crowded around him. He was looking up and down and seemed to be relaying some speech to them from someone above. Janai strained her eyes trying to see who they were listening to.

 _Of course._ She realized. _It’s her._

Perched above the other humans was the woman with dark hair that Janai was fixated on. She held one bottom limb to her chest, while the other dangled below as she moved her hands in a way that seemed to serve the purpose of conveying a message to her crew.

 _I wish I could know what she was saying._ Janai thought to herself, disappointed.

Just then, lightning struck.

_Well, I guess that answers my question. The humans did not notice the storm brewing._

They reacted instantly, all scattering and running below deck, and before Janai could move in any direction, the rough waves pulled her back under the sea, and she could no longer see the sailors on their vessel.

She usually liked the sea during a storm. Watching it all unfold from below felt oddly peaceful. When the raindrops hit the water, they looked almost like shooting stars. Janai often liked to lay on the ocean floor and gaze at the world above in times like these.

But now, the view from below was much less calm. The waves battled with the bottom of the wooden vessel, begging it to give in and join the hundreds of wrecks below. Janai knew it would be best for her to leave, report back to her sister, and let her decide what to do should there be any survivors. There was something pulling Janai to the vessel, and it wouldn’t let her do that. She had to stay.

Suddenly, there was a splash and a body disrupted the waves. She watched in disbelief as the human, unconscious from the fall, floated slowly towards the ocean floor. Surrounded by bubbles and moving water, it took the mermaid a few moments to realize who had been thrown overboard.

Dark brown hair was tangled like seaweed around her light face, and her clothing clung tightly to her body. Her strong arms floated outstretched by her sides, almost as if she were laying on a crowd.

There was no mistaking it.

_It’s her._

Janai stared in disbelief as the beautiful woman sank below.

Without another second of thought, she dove down and grabbed the woman by her waist, pulling her body towards the surface.

She could feel how muscular the woman was as she wrapped her own arms around her in protection. _Interesting._ She thought, fighting a blush. _Could she be a warrior, like me?_

Thankfully the woman wasn’t clad in any armor, so it wasn’t difficult for Janai to bring her to the surface, but the waves tousled the two women on their journey above, turning them around and sending them sideways until Janai didn’t even know where they were. She struggled, channeling every ounce of her strength into propelling her upwards.

 _Don’t let it be too late for her._ The mermaid begged into the nothingness of the stormy sea. _Please._


	3. Human Stuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amaya awakes on the shore after her miraculous rescue. She befriends some birds.

Amaya awoke in the throws of her body ejecting all of the saltwater from her lungs. She was exhausted, but she couldn’t stop. The sand was warm against her hands as she attempted to steady herself.

 _Where the hell am I?_ She thought to herself, finally able to stop throwing up and using her hands to shield her eyes from the blinding sunlight. She tried to sit up, but the movement hurt more than expected. Upon inspection, her body was sore no matter which way she moved. Just the effort of moving was enough to tell her she needed to lay down a little longer, and Amaya let her head fall back into the soft sand as she stared at the sky and tried to piece together the events that led her there.

_We were supporting another kingdom with our troops._

_We won._

_We were traveling home to Katolis, on a boat._

_We were almost home._

_The storm._

She remembered how it started. She was thrown from the boat...she felt her feet miss the deck, she was flying... and then she crashed into the churning sea.

_I should have drowned._

But Amaya hadn’t drowned. She was alive, laying, albeit injured, on the shore somewhere.

An image flashed before her eyes. She couldn’t tell if it was a memory or a dream.

A woman, covered in gold, staring curiously into her eyes as a hand brushed against her cheek. It hurt - had her face been injured in the storm? But when the woman’s cool fingertips brushed against hers, it felt strangely comforting... She saw her mouth moving but heard no words. She couldn’t see her face clearly in the haze of her injuries, but she could make out sharp horns jutting from the crown of her head. As the woman turned and left, Amaya could have sworn she slid into the water and swam away, like one of the merfolk that had scared her crew...

_My crew._

Her heart was struck with worry. She hoped more than anything that the ship had survived the storm, and that she was the only one who’d been thrown overboard. She told herself they were fine, and that they’d probably reached Katolis hours ago, and perhaps there were search crews out now looking for her.

Amaya knew she needed to assess her injuries before she could plan a course of action to get back home. As far as she could tell, her cheek really was cut and bleeding, but that seemed to be her most visible issue. The cut was deep - she couldn’t pinpoint what had caused it, but it was sure to leave behind a scar. _If that’s real,_ she wondered, _Could the woman have been real too? A... mermaid?_

She shook her head, trying to get the image out of her mind.

_Now is not the time for fairy tales. I need to get home, to Callum and Ezran._

Amaya smiled at the thought of her nephews. It made her feel warm inside, and it reminded her what she was living for. She had to get back home for those kids. The loss of her sister, Queen Sarai, had weighed heavily on the royal family of Katolis. Ezran was young enough that he didn’t quite understand what was happening, but Callum was. King Harrow was doing his best, and Amaya knew that her sister would be proud of who they had all become.

She missed Sarai every single day.

Preparing her mind for the coming pain, Amaya channeled her strength into sitting up. With a groan, she was able to pull herself up and sit cross-legged on the beach. She finally had a better view of her surroundings and she took it all in. Her clothes were torn, but still intact in the ways that mattered. They were still a little damp, but bearable.

She was on a long beach, overlooking what she assumed was the channel she and her soldiers had just crossed on their journey home. The sea looked hauntingly calm, oblivious to the storm from the night before. It was as if it had never even happened.

_That’s a good sign, right?_

Amaya had never seen a shipwreck before, but she assumed there would at least be some leftover debris if it had sunk in the storm. Her crew _had_ to be alive. She didn’t know what she’d do without Gren. She had gotten through the battle with no casualties, and she’d be damned if anyone died on the journey home. They all deserved to see their families again.

 _And, so do you. Get up, Amaya._ A voice in her mind chimed in, reminding her of the task at hand. She chucked a bit.

_What a sight I must be._

Once again, she gathered what energy she had to painstakingly rise on her feet. Looking down, she realized that somewhere in all of this mess, she had lost her boots. She wiggled her toes in the warm sand enjoying herself for a brief moment.

Amaya was a very sarcastic person. In any situation, she was known to crack jokes that even Gren begged her not to ask him to translate. Even with no audience, she felt the need to keep the mood light.

_Guess I’m finally getting a vacation._

She joked with herself.

She noticed a small flock of seagulls on the beach, a few meters away from her.

“Enjoying the show?” she signed at the clueless fowl.

“You come here often?” she continued, entertaining herself as she got used to standing again. The birds were not impressed with her impromptu stand-up performance.

“Tough crowd.” she shrugged, smiling. The birds’ eyes were following her hands as they moved, which she knew was likely because they expected she may throw them some food scraps, but the general found it funny nonetheless.

 _Wait a second._ She realized as the birds stared intently at her, that these seagulls must be used to being fed by humans. _I must be near a town._

She signed excitedly at the birds, scaring them off.

“Thank you, thank you, you stupid seagulls!”


	4. Part of Your World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janai faces the consequences of what she's done.

Janai felt numb as she swam home, away from the shore, away from the world above, and away from the human woman she saved. The image was burned in her mind: the woman sprawled against the sand, her hair and clothes wet and clinging to her toned body as Janai’s eyes lingered on her chest. She lay perfectly on the shore, as if she was something from one of the human paintings Janai often admired when they fell down to the bottom of the sea.

The woman was a work of art. Close up, when Janai had laid her body down on the shore, praying she would find a pulse somehow, she had finally gotten a good look at her. It all felt like something out of a dream - it couldn't, no, it _shouldn’t_ be real. If her sister Queen Khessa ever found out... Janai didn’t even know how she’d react. But at that moment, she couldn’t have cared less, because the most wonderful woman she’d ever seen was in her arms.

The woman was strong, definitely a warrior, or general of some sort. Her body was toned from years of training, and her hair was unevenly cut so that one half ran longer into her face. She had seemed mostly uninjured, save a deep cut along her cheekbone that Janai was a little worried about. After assessing the damage, Janai had held the woman’s wrist tight in hers, waiting to feel a pulse. Every so slightly, her veins moved, pumping blood throughout her body. Janai was overwhelmingly relieved. As she studied the woman’s face, perched on the beach alongside her, her eyelashes fluttered, startling Janai. After a moment of the mermaid’s heart beating so fast the thought she might be dying, the woman closed her eyes again, passing out on the beach.

In a panic, Janai slid back into the sea and away from the woman she wanted nothing more than to swim back to.

Now, heading home, she didn’t know what to do.

 _She saw me. My people could be in danger._ One half of her mind argued.

The other half tried to rationalize. _She was barely conscious. If anything she thinks you were a hallucination._

Another new part in her mind, albeit distant, hoped more than anything that the woman remembered her and knew she was real.

Janai knew deep down that she had to tell her sister. She’d take whatever punishment was laid upon her, but she couldn’t have just let a human die in cold blood.

_Should I have? Was letting her die the right thing to do?_

The time to consider mortality had passed. She needed to hurry back to her sister, who she suspected was already suspicious of her absence after the storm. She just needed to own what she did. Janai wasn’t a liar - she had to stand strong, as she always did. Though she wasn’t quite as intense and angry as her sister, she had a reputation as a strong and relentless warrior. The people here respected her, and she wasn’t exactly known for her soft spot.

Entering the throne room, she expected a cold welcome, as if her sister would know already what she had done. Instead, Khessa rushed down from her throne the moment Janai floated inside. She was nearly tackled in an embrace by her sister, and she smiled as they held each other. They had a bond like no other, and Janai wrapped her arms tightly around Khessa, fearing this may be the last time.

The Sunfire queen pulled back, keeping her hands wrapped around her sister’s elbows warmly.

“What happened? Did you lose the humans? Where have you been? Are you hurt?” She asked, her powerful voice wavering in fear. “Did they see you?”

Janai tried to keep her head high.

“I am okay. The humans are gone, they reached their port after the storm. I’m not injured.”

She tried to sound nonchalant, dropping the good news before the bad. Her sister could sense something was off. Khessa looked deeply in Janai’s eyes, brows furrowed in concern.

“One of them saw me, Khessa.” She admitted, her voice unwavering.

The queen’s arms dropped quickly and she pushed herself backward, away from her sister.

“How? I thought you had experience with this. You told me you were _careful._ ”

The words came out like a growl in Khessa’s throat.

“Khessa, I could not just let her _die._ ” Janai pleaded, desperately trying to rationalize her actions to her sister who wanted nothing more than to see all humans who entered their waters killed.

Queen Khessa looked ready to go on a rampage.

“You let her _live?”_ she snarled, moving quickly into Janai’s face, their eyes inches from each other.

“There was a storm, Khessa, I will not just watch humans die for no reason!” she argued, exasperated. “We may not like them or agree with them, but we cannot kill them like this.”

“Yes, we _can._ Janai, I thought you understood the _threat_ they pose on us-on our _people_.”

Her sister had her pinned against a rock, now, but she was determined to stand tall.

“What do you want from me then? She is long gone now.” Janai pushed back, now nose to nose with her sister. She could see the wheels turning in her brain as the queen tried to decide what she needed to happen.

“You will go and find her then,” Khessa said plainly, backing off and moving away from Janai, crossing her arms and looking down upon her.

 _“How?_ She is on land now, I cannot-”

“-You’ll find a way, Janai. Kill her before it’s too late and the whole world is at our doorstep.”

When Khessa looked back at her, she could see the sadness in her eyes. Janai knew she felt betrayed, but knew nothing to say to comfort the woman.

“You will not be welcomed back here until you bring me a body. You have three days, or you are no longer my kin.”

Staring into her sister’s deep eyes, she understood that this was her queue to leave. Saving face, she bit her lip and turned to leave the only place she knew as home.

“I will return, sister.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Khessa nod in confidence.

Janai tried to think rationally, but her mind was more muddled than it had ever been.

_How am I ever going to get to the human world?_


	5. Poor Unfortunate Souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janai searches for a way to become human.

There was only one person in the entire ocean that may be able to turn merfolk human. Most undersea creatures dabbled in magic, but none could quite cast spells and transform the way Lujanne, the sea witch, could. She was another kind of underwater creature, similar to the Sunfire merfolk in general appearance: a humanoid upper half, with the bottom half, instead bearing resemblance to the tail of a fish. They were called Moonshadow Merfolk, and their tails were long and thin, varying in color from bright blues to pale whites. They wore their hair straight and long, light as the day against their pink-toned skin. They bore facial markings and horns much like the Sunfire merfolk, but instead of bright gold adorning their body, there were streaks of deep purple.

Even against her kin, Lujanne stood out. Instead of the typical mermaid body of a fish-tail, her bottom half was more like that of an octopus. Eight long tentacles stretched from beneath her torso, deep blue in color and covered in whimsical, circular designs of bright white. The sea witch Lujanne was known to dwell in a large cave below a cliffside a few miles from the Sunfire settlement. Not many knew her personally, but hundreds of years ago, merfolk would come from far and wide to visit the woman and ask her for a spell. Some wanted to be thinner, some wanted to find love, and others were just desperate for anything magical. Nowadays, Lujanne wasn’t much more than a whisper on a stranger’s breath in a crowded room, or perhaps the punch line to a bad joke. But still, every merperson knew that if they needed something important done with magic, she was the one to go to.

Her payments, on the other hand, were known for their unpredictable and often nonsensical nature. She never asked for her patrons to bring anything of monetary value-Lujanne preferred items that were more personal, and spiritual. When you went to her for help, you needed nothing more than the clothes on your back. The things she asked for were never the same: there had been stories of a bald merman who wanted back his hair and was granted so at the sacrifice of his sense of taste. Another woman wanted a longer tail and paid for it with the sacrifice of her ability to grow hair.

The woman was shrouded in mystery, and most people weren’t even sure if she was still alive. But, she was Janai’s only hope if she wanted to ever be welcomed home again.

She hadn’t even entertained the idea of living in exile-no matter her morals, or the budding emotions she felt for the strange woman from the land, she had to do what needed to be done to be accepted back home. Her sister was all she had. She never had much time for lovers, and most of her friends were simply the Sunfire guards she supervised. Janai knew that she came off as intimidating, and was often so fiery that it turned people off of her. The things that made her a great warrior and protector of her people weren’t always compatible with casual socialization. But, if there were someone else, someone who understood her, another warrior...

There was no point in letting it linger. Janai _was_ going to get to the surface, and she was going to kill the dark-haired woman she had saved from death only hours before. She wasn’t going to lose her sister over some human.

Though she’d never met the woman herself, Janai knew exactly where to find the sea witch Lujanne.

The long swim to her cave should have been a good time for the banished mermaid to formulate some sort of plan. While her sister often acted on impulse and instinct, Janai was more of a happy medium. She was just as passionate as the queen, but as head of the Sunfire guard, she was used to her people relying on her, so she knew how to plan out of the necessity to keep others safe. Yet, for once in her life, Janai’s mind was too clouded with emotion to form clear thoughts. It all depended on what Lujanne if she was even still alive, could do for her.

The sea witch’s cave looked almost like the ruins of a long-drowned shipwreck. There were remnants of her glory days strewn across the ocean floor leading up to the mouth of her cave - a monument to the way things were. Worn, long-dead chunks of coral marks where there was once a line where eager merfolk would wait for a chance to have their wish granted. Tattered signs littered the landscape, pointing towards the cave, advertising Lujanne’s services. It wasn’t hard for Janai to find her way, following the remnants of hope deeper and deeper down, until the light behind her faded.

As a mermaid, her eyes were used to darker, filtered light, so she could comprehend most of her surroundings as she swam down through the cave. The walls, she could tell, had once been covered in gorgeous paintings, full of color and light - but now they were faded, and indistinguishable from each other. Her hopes were dwindling with every second, slowly accepting that she was likely swimming towards Lujanne’s tomb. It amazed the mermaid to think that at one point in time, this place had been filled to the brim with excited sea creatures, all looking to watch a dream come true. It was so empty and lifeless now...

...which was why a movement Janai observed from the corner of her eye was so startling. Ever so slightly, a shadow passed through her vision, and immediately she was in warrior mode. She didn’t have much on her person in terms of weapons. _Stupid._ she chastised herself, reaching for the only thing she did have, which was a pair of knives secured around her waist. They weren’t ideal for a fight, but Janai trusted in her abilities and took one in each four-fingered hand, moving to a defensive position. She could feel the familiar furrow in her brow as she tensed up, brightening the gold on her body so that she glowed.

 _“Who goes there?”_ she snarled, in a voice smooth and deep, instinctively doing all she could to appear as powerful and intimidating as possible. She was met with silence, but she could sense movement in the water coming from all around her. Janai considered turning back in retreat. She wasn’t prepared to hold her own, nor did she care to. Whoever had taken over the sea witch’s cave could have it - she preferred open waters anyways.

“I am looking for Lujanne, the witch. I don’t want trouble.” Janai said, trying to reason with whoever was in the cave with her. The hopelessness of her situation was starting to overwhelm her, no matter how much she tried to fight it and push it away. Her grip on the handles of her knives was the only thing keeping her from slipping completely.

_No home. No sister. No sea witch... No hope._

“Please... I’m desperate. Lujanne is my only option. If she’s gone, just tell me so that I can move on.” Janai spit out the words, pained by the admission of weakness. Suddenly, she heard a soft thump on the wall a few meters ahead of her, and the hallway was illuminated with blue-green lanterns, revealing the challenger.

Urm, well, challengers _plural_.

Ahead of Janai was a young mermaid, unlike any she had ever seen. She was certainly no Sunfire mermaid - her skin was a warm olive-tone, and her long brown hair floated around her round face, unstyled and free. Her eyes were deep brown and wide, in a way that made her look like a child’s doll that had grown up and learned the harsh truths of the world. She had a tail that started at her waist, the way all merfolk did, but it was a monochrome purple hue. The young woman wore a long-sleeved light brown shirt, secured around her waist with long strips of dark fabric as a makeshift belt. She couldn’t have been more than twenty years old.

Beside the strange mermaid was another unfamiliar creature. Janai thought she was well-versed in all types of merfolk, from Startouch to Moonshadow, but these two were something altogether new to her. The girl’s companion looked like something from the human world - a creature with four limbs that moved around with no tail. It was covered in some sort of fur and had pointy ears jutting from the top of its head. The pair looked entirely out of place.

The girl, it seemed, had pushed some sort of button on the wall, activating the fading lights in the cave hallway. Janai tilted her head in confusion.

“Who are you?” she asked, out of her element.

The girl smiled from the side of her mouth, and rested a hand-a _five-fingered_ hand- on her companion’s head, ruffling its fur.

“My name is Ellis, and this is Ava. We don’t get many visitors these days.”


	6. Where You Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amaya returns home and reunites with her nephews, Callum and Ezran.

It hadn’t taken Amaya long to find someone in the nearby town looking for her. She had wandered in, looking like, well, someone who just survived a shipwreck, and news travels fast in Katolis. She was reunited with her crew, all safe and sound-albeit a little waterlogged and shaken from the events of the day before. Her second-in-command, Gren, was waiting for her in the foyer when she arrived back at the castle, perched on a hill standing proud above the river that led to the sea she had been thrust into. Gren was accompanied by someone she had missed more than expected - her perfect, fluffy white dog named Rai. She had been a companion of Amaya’s since before Sarai died, a birthday gift one year from her sister. The dog had been with her through the aftermath of the queen’s death but had inevitably been left behind to comfort Callum as Amaya trekked across the globe searching for conflicts to resolve.

Amaya was immediately whisked away to see the royal doctor, who insisted on keeping her in the infirmary overnight for observation.

Sure, most of her body was still sore, there was a bit of a pounding in her head, and there was the whole hallucinating a mermaid thing-but really, she was fine. She’d been informed that the gash on her cheek would leave a scar-something she knew already. Gren had smiled at her sheepishly when the doctor gave her the news, but Amaya was unbothered. “What can I say, ladies love a woman with scars. It shows them I’m tough.” she had signed to him, grinning with a glint in her eye.

In 24 hours, she had gone from the open ocean, to stuck in the palace infirmary, laying on a cot she didn’t need to be laying on. She hadn’t even seen her nephews or her brother-in-law, the king, yet. Callum and Ezran were always the highlights of her time in Katolis. They reminded Amaya so much of her sister, especially Callum, the eldest. He had her spirit and humor, and he was also one of the few people she knew who had learned how to speak with Katolis sign language to talk to her. Talking to him made her feel like, just for a second, she was with Sarai again.

Amaya hadn’t stayed at the castle much ever since her sister passed. Work was the perfect distraction for someone who had lost the person that meant the most to them in the whole world. It wasn’t hard to find a battle to fight or a border to guard. There was always an easy excuse to leave behind the place where her sister had spent the last years of her life, and the place where she was laid to her final rest. Amaya was a fighter, and she wasn’t going to give up and face her sister’s death _that_ easily.

The more time that passed since she woke on the seashore, the clearer her memories grew of the woman-real or not-who had saved her life. She had soft, dark skin... and gold around her deep orange eyes? Horns sticking up from beneath her braided hair? A tail?

 _None of that can be true._ She told herself, sitting up from her cot and shaking her head. The movement hurt a little, reminding Amaya of her fall. She pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging them with her arms. She had been given new clothes, a pair left behind in her bedroom. It was good to be back in her usual dusty blue long sleeve shirt, and a layer of tight-fitting grey pants. On most days, she wore this beneath all of her armor, and she hadn’t worn it at all in the weeks at sea.

The infirmary was located below the castle, but throughout a small window, Amaya could still see the sun setting over the water. Katolis Castle sat at the mouth of a river, surrounded by the water as natural protection from intruders. She could see where the ship she sailed on was docked, at the port nearest to the sea. It looked alright-a little battered from the storm, but other than a few broken boards, it fared well. It would only need a few repairs before a crew could take it to sea again.

Amaya usually wasn’t one for boats. Sure, she didn’t mind a trip to the shore with her nephews, but something about open water made her feel uneasy. In the past, that is. For some reason, she felt drawn to it now, like the ocean was calling her to come across it again so that it could swallow her up into its warm, dark waters for good. She felt so different from the person she’d left Katolis as months ago, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint why.

 _You know who’d get the biggest kick out of this whole story?_ She thought to herself, a smile growing across her face. _Callum and Ezran._

It wouldn’t be hard to sneak out of the infirmary unnoticed, and Amaya welcomed the change of pace to distract herself for a moment. Wincing a little as she lowered herself from the cot, she quickly made her way upstairs to find her nephews.

The stones were cold beneath her bare feet as they carried her across the castle. She didn’t have to be too incognito-most people around the castle knew who she was, it was true, but they liked her too. Amaya loved to humor people and captured an audience easily. Most of the royal family were received warmly by the people of Katolis-even King Harrow was known to visit village bakeries on occasion, and made casual talk with everyone he came across. Sarai’s impact was felt throughout the kingdom, even years after her death.

So, even if someone saw Amaya looking suspicious, slightly haggard, stumbling around without shoes, she knew they wouldn’t turn her in or insist she went back to the infirmary. Most people trusted her.

The sun had barely set, so she knew Callum and Ezran were likely not in bed quite yet. It had been months since she had seen her nephews, and mermaid or not she was itching to catch up with them. She knew they liked to stay in one of the living rooms-now essentially a playroom-before bed most nights, so she headed there.

She had barely slipped through the creaking door when she was bombarded with affection from her two nephews. Ez, still only 8 years old, wrapped his little arms around her legs, jumping up and down. It was clear he had forgotten she was still recovering from her injuries, but Amaya didn’t mind. She welcomed the comfort. Callum, ever the gentleman, stood back and waited for her to open her arms in invitation before burying his face in her chest. They had grown close in the years since Sarai’s death, and Amaya frequently received letters from Callum when she was away from the castle.

She held the boys in her arms for a few minutes before pulling back to catch up.

“So, what’s new around here?” she signed enthusiastically as Callum translated for his younger brother. They both shrugged, still smiling.

“Is anything ever new in Katolis?” Callum responded sarcastically with a sheepish grin. He looked so much like Sarai that sometimes, Amaya mistook his smile for hers. Sure, he was a tad more awkward than her sister had been, but she knew that came with the territory of being a fourteen-year-old step-prince.

“Well, how are you both? Studying well? Getting big and strong so you can join me and my soldiers one day?” she flexed at them, ignoring the pain that came with the movement. Ezran began to speak, and Amaya did her best to read his small lips.

“Bait and I have been learning so much! Did you know that there are a bunch of secret passageways throughout the castle?!” she laughed, enjoying the boy’s excitement. She knew that Ezran’s lack of, er, human friends had been a point of concern for his father, King Harrow, but Amaya was glad to know that he had a companion, even if it was a large glow-toad.

Before Amaya could respond, Callum interrupted his brother.

“That can wait until later, Ez. Aunt Amaya has gone through a lot in the past 24 hours. She probably wants to rest and-”

Her face lit up, and she started signing excitedly.

“No! Look at me, I’m in perfect health. I have such a story to tell you, boys!”

She sat in front of the fireplace with Callum and Ezran (and Bait) as her captive audience as she recalled her tale of being tossed into the sea-and saved by a mysterious stranger. The boys watched in awe, eating up every single word.

“A mermaid?” Callum exclaimed hesitantly.

“A mermaid!” Ezran gasped, jumping up and down with Bait in his arms.

“I knew they were real! I knew it, I knew it, _I knew it!_ ”

Amaya couldn’t help but laugh at the young prince’s excitement. He had always been more open to the impossible, while his brother preferred to trust what he knew. The light in both of their eyes made the general feel warm inside.

“Whoa there, Ez,” she signed, grinning playfully at him, “I could have hit my head at some point, I mean look at my face.” Amaya motioned to the bandaged gash on her cheek. “I could have imagined the whole thing! My crew was spouting all kinds of crazy stories about merpeople before the storm hit, maybe they got into my head.”

She smiled, ruffling Ezran’s mane of dark brown hair.

“Well, either way, something pulled you out of the water after that storm. Maybe you just conjured up the tail, and it was just a pretty lady that saved you.” Callum said, signing as he did so, trying to rationalize the situation.

“Hey, I never said she was pretty.” Amaya signed back defensively, trying to hide her blushing smile.

“Oh, sorry, I just assumed-” Callum responded frantically, but Amaya just laughed and winked at him. Looking out the large window, she realized that the sun was long gone beyond the horizon, and the dark night had taken over.

“Boys, as much as I love being your cool aunt, it is way past your bedtime. Shouldn’t you be getting to sleep?”

Her nephews groaned but obliged. Ezran was already yawning with Bait in his arms as she escorted them to their bedrooms. He was asleep the moment his head touched the pillow as Amaya kissed his forehead goodnight.

Callum was far past the age of being tucked into bed by his aunt, but before Amaya turned to leave him to get ready for bed, he stopped her.

“Aunt Amaya?” he hesitated.

“Something on your mind, Callum?” she signed back with a supportive smile.

“Do you really think you saw a mermaid or something?”

She thought for a moment, trying to figure out what was best for him to hear right now.

“Well, something saved me from that storm. My memories are getting clearer as time passes,” she shrugged. “I know what I saw, and I saw a woman with a tail.”

He paused, deep in thought.

“I’ve been reading a lot of old books, and I dunno. It doesn’t seem that impossible that magical creatures like that could exist in Katolis.” 

Amaya grinned.

“I don't think it’s that impossible either, Callum. Goodnight.”

As she left, she couldn’t help but lose herself in thought about the breathtaking woman she had seen on the beach, with long dark red hair, strange horns, and, of course, a long, fish-like tail.


	7. Under the Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janai finds the answer to her problem.

“So. Who are you?”

Though slightly aged, the sea witch Lujanne was almost exactly the way she’d been described to Janai throughout her life. A Moonshadow mermaid, her skin was a dusk brown, her white hair stark against it as it was pulled up into a bun, save two braids left out that sat on the sides of her face. She was surprisingly regal looking-not the cheap mage Janai had expected to meet. Her torso was long, and an elegant traditional Moonshadow blouse led down to her mysteriously unique body that ended in eight octopus-like tentacles. She had seen Moonshadow merfolk in person before, but always from a distance, perhaps in battle. Never had she stood in the presence of one as she was doing now.

The girl, Ellis, and her pet Ava stood beside the woman, a few meters apart. There was a sadness, a staleness about the room that made Janai feel uneasy. It was obviously the place where Lujanne used to meet her customers and perform her magic-there was a large ornamental chair in the middle, almost like a throne, and the walls were entirely covered in bookshelves and diagrams teaching things she couldn’t understand. This was obviously the most well-kept room in the cave, it looked as if it were perhaps still in use. The sea witch looked like she could have been the trusted companion to a queen, not the cheap illusionist Janai had heard tales of.

“I need your help,” she responded hesitantly to Lujanne. Janai wasn’t used to needing assistance like this. The words felt unnatural falling from her tongue.

“I need an illusion.”

Lujanne reached a four-fingered hand up to draw across her chin in thought. She looked Janai up and down slowly and exchanged a long glance with Ellis.

“Please, sit down.” the woman said slowly, gesturing for Janai to sit in a chair beside a table to the side of the room, as she followed and sat across from her. Ellis floated to the other side of the room and sat on the floor beside Ava, who slumped her large head into her lap. The dynamic between the two women didn’t make sense to Janai, who was still unsure as to _what_ Ellis even was. She wasn’t quite human but wasn’t quite a mermaid either.

Across from her, Lujanne sat with her hands folded on the small, ancient table. A strange smile grew from the corner of her mouth.

“We don’t get many visitors these days. What led you here?” she sounded so cool and familiar, speaking as if Janai was an old friend and not some strange Sunfire mermaid who had just wandered into her cave. Taking a deep breath, she did her best to explain her situation: she needed to become human so that she could venture past the shores and get the human woman alone, and silence her. She debated hiding her true intentions from the woman, who seemed to her to have a kind heart, but she knew that the sea witch would understand why she had to do it.

Lujanne sighed.

“I suppose you’re right, there’s only one way to handle this. You have to deal with the human, and you have to do it now. But... I’m not sure what I can do to help you.”

The thought of what she needed had crossed Janai’s mind as she made the journey to the cave, but for some reason, it felt embarrassing to say aloud, like she was a child asking for a present, or some silly girl in a fairy tale.

“I need you to make me a human. Give me two limbs instead of this tail.”

Janai gestured down at her body, then to her horns and fingers.

“If you can just make it so I can blend in with the humans, I can do what needs to be done.”

The elderly mermaid looked her up and down, pausing to think.

“Covering up something that’s already there, that I can do. The horns, the fingers-that will be simple. But creating something new, giving you legs where you have a tail... that’s something I haven’t tried before.”

Ellis moved from her corner and swam towards the two of them, arms crossed.

“What about what you did for me, and Ava? You came to our aid when we needed you - you have me a tail and made it so I could breathe down here. How is doing the opposite much different?”

 _So that’s why she looks so different._ Janai thought to herself. _Ellis used to be a human?_

Lujanne tensed up across from her, avoiding eye contact with Ellis. Janai was slowly starting to put together the pieces and understand their relationship.

“It’s not the same, Ellis. I can... use my illusions to give you a tail, sure, and a quick spell on your necklace to allow you to breathe... creating something new, legs for her to walk on, it’s much more complicated, and...”

The aging mermaid ran her hands through her stark white hair, at a loss. There was such a kindness to her that it struck Janai, making her feel like she was in an entirely new world. She had expected to have to barter with the sea witch, but here she was, face flushed with concern for someone she’d only met an hour before.

“It’s been a long time since I did magic of that scale,” Lujanne said, raising her warm eyes to meet Janai’s.

“Please,” she replied, her head falling to her hands.

“You have to at least try. I can’t lose my family.”

The sea witch nodded, a fruitless determination in her brow, as she arose and began to search the volumes that surrounded the room for a spell that could give Janai the ability to walk and blend in with the humans. So that she could take the life of the woman she saved.

It didn’t take long for the trio to find what they were looking for. Ellis called out to them emotionlessly, and when they looked over she was holding a large tome covered in dust. With a nod, Lujanne swam over to read through the spell.

“Alright, Janai. I think this will work. The legs, horns, and fingers I can do. But, there are a few...” She squinted, reading across the page again with concern as Janai floated over to join her.

“...There are a few side effects to give you the ability to breathe on land.”

Janai furrowed her brow, reaching out to read the page for herself only to realize it was in a language she didn’t recognize. She had been above the waves plenty of times but had always noticed that the longer she stayed, the harder breathing was. At most she could last a few minutes before diving below to breathe clearly again. A mermaid’s lungs were made to survive in water, not on land.

“What do you mean, ‘side effects?’ I will do whatever it takes.”

Lujanne hesitated before taking the book back and reading aloud. She cleared her throat, sending bubbles through the water.

“When granted the ability to, as a water-breathing creature, breathe naturally in clear air, the creature will, in turn, lose the ability to speak.”

The sea witch empathetically brought her eyes up to meet Janai’s, waiting for a reaction.

Janai tensed her hands into fists.

“I do not need to be able to speak to her-I just need to be able to slice her throat.”

Lujanne nodded in solemn understanding.

“Well, I do believe we are on a time crunch. Shall we get started?”

Janai nodded, thinking only of the task at hand as the sea witch began her work, and Ellis watched wistfully from the corner.


	8. One Step Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amaya finds a mysterious woman washed ashore.

Amaya was walking barefoot across the Katolis shores, accompanied by her two nephews when she saw her.

There was a commotion down the beach, which immediately struck her as odd. The people of Katolis weren’t particularly fond of the beach, especially when the weather was as stormy as it had been. Amaya liked it well enough, for the peace above all. Strolling beside her family as her boots sank in the morning sand was time she valued and had grown to look back on in memories of her sister. Callum and Ezran could run along the waterline, searching for shells, and pointing out at birds crossing the horizon. Most days, it was only the three of them beside the ocean, save the occasional couple out for a romantic stroll.

But today, a crowd had gathered in the distance. It was just a few townspeople - maybe three or four - but enough to strike curiosity in the royal trio’s minds. Beside Amaya, Callum raised his eyebrows in intrigue as his little brother grabbed his hand and pulled him forward at a faster pace than their casual stroll. Amaya smiled, nodding for them to go on. There hadn’t been violence on Katolis shores in many years, so she knew the two would be safe. Callum had enough worry in his heart to keep the both of them cautious.

As the boys neared the crowd gathering, Amaya’s own curiosity got the best of her as she quickened into a jog, easily outrunning her nephews as they giggled and continued forward. They would all treasure their memories of mornings like this, even into their old age.

Getting closer, Amaya began to make sense of the situation. At the center of it all, a person with bright pink hair was helping a strange woman to her feet. She was wearing some sort of long button-up shirt, easily two sizes too large, and the pink-haired person assisting her seemed quite concerned, their brows furrowed in worry. Amaya recognized them as a local artisan named Marley, who lit up as their eyes met, sighing in relief. Struggling to hold up the woman and move her hands at the same time, they signed “Amaya! Thank goodness you’re-” Marley started to let go of the woman, who immediately slumped back to the ground. It seemed to Amaya as if she was unable to stand - perhaps another straggler from the storm? _Maybe there were other boats out that were less fortunate than mine,_ she thought to herself. The crowd parted to let Amaya through as the boys watched in awe.

“What’s going on?” she signed to Marley, looking around the crowd, searching for an explanation. The woman sitting on the ground was putting on a tough face, brows furrowed, but clearly distressed. It made Amaya smile. The woman looked familiar somehow as if they had met before. She had long, dark red braids flowing from her scalp, and deep, dark skin. The look on her face was as if she was a soldier whose armor had been removed.

“I found her here this morning, washed up on shore, without any clothes. She won’t speak to anyone.” Marley signed to Amaya, looking exasperated.

“Won’t speak, or can’t speak?” Amaya signed back, grinning with humor in her eyes as she gestured to her own lips. _It’s possible that she can’t hear either. Maybe this woman is someone like me._

Looking down at the woman, she finally lifted her head to meet Amaya’s gaze. For a moment, it felt as if an electric shock went through her body. The woman looked up at her as if hers was the first face she’d ever seen, totally in awe. It only lasted a moment, though, before she carefully composed herself and regained her tough exterior. Amaya couldn’t help but admire how perfectly gorgeous the woman was, like something from a fairy tale, or a dream -

Amaya stumbled backward, taken by the realization rushing through her mind.

“You-” she signed, mouth agape, looking back up to the crowd for help. The strange woman clearly didn’t recognize Amaya’s Katolis sign language, and though it was possible she was from another kingdom with different means of communicating, she doubted it. The lack of attempts to communicate led Amaya to hypothesize that the woman was simply choosing not to speak. But, she had to talk to her somehow. She had to thank her, to find out who she was - Amaya had to know more about this strange woman that she’d seen only once before.

“Marley, I know her. Tell her I know her. She’s the woman who saved me - I think she pulled me from the ocean after the storm,”


End file.
